Whether you’re trying to make an impact on social media or climb to the top of search engine rankings, have you considered trying topical relevance over data?
Many marketers know the struggle of trying to channel their efforts towards the right keywords. If you had to boil all of your website’s content or social media down to just a handful of simple phrases or words – and this includes all of the images, videos and text copy – these should be your primary keywords. It’s the internet’s way of indexing the context and relevance of what you’re all about, and how others can find you, but what does topical relevance have to do with this?
The Relationship Between Topical Relevance And Content
The function of keywords is that they essentially act as a data driven truth serum. When nobody’s watching, we’re combing the internet for solutions to all kinds of problems, in the hopes that somebody out there has the answers. At its core, research via keywords is a powerful market research tool that can be leveraged in many different ways.
In this context, the term “topical relevance” was coined to measure exactly how your website’s content is relevant to a user’s search query, otherwise known as topical authority. In the many realms of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), it’s how a search engine figures out how to match the best results to a question or term that the user poses. As the technology developed, topical relevance became the hidden metric that marketers have tried to track when it comes to measuring the success of their digital content and SEO efforts – so how can you successfully crack the code?
How To Improve Your Topical Relevance
Google trawls through (quite literally) millions of posts every day, in order to deliver the most relevant and on topic answers to specific queries that users are asking. Reaching the top of these rankings is the ultimate end goal for any brand or business, especially if they are putting a conscious effort into doing so – who doesn’t want to be at the top?
However, the topic of how to get to the top is a debate that has raged on for decades – what works for some, may not work for others, especially when Google changed the game in 2011 when they launched the Panda algorithm.
Purposely designed to reduce the prevalence of low quality, thin content in the search results, and to reward unique, compelling content, the Panda algorithm sent marketers scrambling on a global scale. The method that had worked for a decade, suddenly didn’t anymore – but what it did do, is offer a chance for smaller brands, publishers, businesses and websites a chance to make their mark online.
To put it simply, stay on topic without over-optimising for “click bait” – exactly how does the topic that you are writing about relate to a user’s search term? Google is smart, and can spot a fraud from a mile away. In order to connect with the right audiences and climb to the top of the search engine results, aim for the following.
Target Long Form Questions – Get to know exactly what the audience is asking – most phrases tend to start with “how”, “what” and “best.” A common example would be that Googling “wedding dress Brisbane” then morphes into “where can I buy a wedding dress in Brisbane”.
Go Local – In the United States, over 50% of users use Google to find out information about the local businesses operating near where they live. This can include anything and everything from individual products, phone numbers, recommendations, store locations to directions.
Write Naturally – While keywords are important factors, write like you are talking with your audience instead of at them. By offering simple and straightforward explanations, you’re enabling the SEO crawlers to pick up key information snippets for distribution.
Watch The News – Have you taken a step back to see what’s going on in the world around you, or even your local community or industry? Although this method can be time sensitive, you can insert topical relevance into your content if you can connect your brand to current events.
Do You Need Help With Your Content, Keywords and SEO Strategy?
Producing quality, consistent and on brand content takes time, effort, experience and resources – and you’re not alone if you can’t quite commit to that. Avoiding the use of keywords, topical relevance and content marketing all together may actually be doing your brand a disservice, but thankfully, investing in a solid content marketing strategy has never been easier.
Here at Content Hive, producing top quality video and digital content is exactly what we do best. We have itemised a list of digital content services, and allocated credits next to each of these. This means that each month, you can use your credits with us to produce digital content such as social media posts, blog articles, videos and even animated Instagram stories.
We believe that this model means we can produce high quality content in faster than normal delivery times. It also means that because you have a monthly credit, you are going to want to make sure you use these up – and so do we – meaning that your digital content is always consistent.
If you aren’t quite sure where to start on your digital marketing journey and would like to speak to a professional, why not book in a free discovery call with us at Content Hive today to discuss how we can get your brand buzzing online.
